During Jesus’ earthly ministry, his disciples came to him and said, “Teach us to pray”. And he gave them the Lord’s Prayer, the Our Father, as a fixed form of prayer for them to pray together, and to repeat, over and over again. And, as so many of us know, repeating it, over and over again, allows that prayer to enter deeply into our hearts and souls.

Well, the Church, the Body of Christ, our Spiritual Mother, continues to teach us to pray by giving us a prayer each week that we pray during the Sunday liturgy. The Church also calls on us to pray it each day, even several times a day, as part of the Church’s daily round of worship.

When we take a prayer like that, and repeat it, say, twenty times in the course of the week, we find that it doesn’t just go in one ear and out the other – rather, it goes from the ear to the mind, from the mind to the heart, from the heart to the life – and the life of Christ is formed more deeply in us.

Here’s a prayer that the Church gives us for the third Sunday in August each year:

Almighty God, you have given your only son to be for us, a sacrifice for sin, and also, an example of Godly Life. Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming work, and to follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life, through Jesus Christ, your son, our Lord. Amen.

Imagine praying this prayer over and over again throughout the week – that deep sense of gratitude for what Christ has done for us on the Cross, and that sense of motivation and gracious help from the Holy Spirit to life a Christlike life. What kind of difference would this make in your life?

May the prayers of the Church go from our ears to our minds; from our minds to our hearts; from our hearts to our lives.

a Moment with Father Michael RowePraying the Weekly CollectsDuring Jesus earthly ministry, his disciples came to him and said, “Teach us to pray”. And he gave them the Lord’s Prayer, the Our Father, as a fixed form of prayer for them to pray together, and to repeat, over and over again. And, as so many of us know, repeating it, over and over again, allows that prayer to enter deeply into our hearts and souls. Well, the Church, the Body of Christ, our Spiritual Mother, continues to teach us to pray, by giving us a prayer each week, that we pray during the Sunday liturgy, and, the Church calls on us to pray it each day, even several times a day, as part of the Church’s daily round of worship. When we take a prayer like that, and repeat it, say, twenty times in the course of the week, we find that it doesn’t just go in one ear and out the other – rather, it goes from the ear to the mind, from the mind to the heart, from the heart to the life – and the life of Christ is formed more deeply in us.Here’s a prayer that the Church gives us for the third Sunday in August each year: Almighty God, you have given your only son to be for us, a sacrifice for sin, and also, an example of Godly Life. Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming work, and to follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life, through Jesus Christ, your son, our Lord, Amen. Imagine praying that prayer, over and over again throughout the week – that deep sense of gratitude for what Christ has done for us on the Cross, and that sense of motivation and gracious help from the Holy Spirit, to life a Christlike life. May the prayers of the Church go from our ears to our minds; from our minds to our hearts; from our hearts to our lives. — Fr Michael RoweQuestions? rector@stmarysbonita.orgfor Parish info please visit www.stmarysbonita.org

Posted by St. Mary's Episcopal Church on Wednesday, August 22, 2018